章節 49: A Rumor Fast Spreading

He shook his head with what was Jess was talking about. He is one of those people that have eyes that could see that Noah likes Jess -- and vice versa! But Jess was being in denial of her feelings.

However, right now is not the right time to let her know about her stupidity. Jess is drunk! And she is twice as difficult when drunk. So, he would find another day to call her out about her stupid plan, for now, he raised his glass for a toast of revenge.

He smirked while shaking his head in amusement, listening to her grandiose plan on how to make Noah beg for mercy. 'He would beg you for mercy honey, but in bed.' He didn't say it out loud because he doesn't want her to kill him. Instead, he nodded and applauded her plan for her sweet vengeance.

The rest of the dinner has flowed like wine. They were gone before they realized and they were too drunk to care anyway. Also, the semester is almost over, they already hand in their research paper. Drinking and having fun is in proper order.

But then, fun always ended up with regrets. And it comes when she woke up the next day with a splitting headache.

She half-crawled to reach her alarm clock blaring the OST of her favorite Ghibli film. Once the annoying alarm was silenced, she dropped herself back to bed. She was about to succumb to sleep when she remembered that she has to be at the uni to meet professor Boa.

She cursed under her breath as she threw the blanket to the other side of her bed. She stretched her arms about her head as she did a big yawn.

She swung her legs off the bed and walked barefoot to her bathroom. She didn't even bother to close the door and just tugged her sleepwear off her head and stepped inside the shower stall to take a freezing shower to chase away the remnants of sleep.

She quickly grabbed a towel when was done with her shower. She could feel the cold water down in her bones -- she shivered. She hastily wrapped her body with a soft towel, then blasted her wet hair with a hairdryer.

Since today, she won't drop by the lab, and won't be wearing her coat lab, she decided to wear casual clothes. She grabbed navy blue wash-out jeans, a white long polo shirt that she left the three top button opened. She rolled the cuff of the shirt, put on her favorite wristwatch, and put on black ankle boots on her way out.

The drive to the uni doesn't take longer than fifteen minutes. Finding a parking spot sometimes takes longer than her actual drive, but not today. Since the semester was almost over, not a lot of students were on campus. Some of them were already getting ready for their awaited spring break.

She pursed her lips on a pout, remembering her friends' message that they couldn't accompany her for a vacation. She was actually looking forward to spring break. She put off doing the spring party for she doesn't really like crowded parties, but she wanted to experience it as part of her uni memories.

Hence, she wanted to do it in her last year of college. Her friends promised that they would all go together but since they both got a boyfriend, they were now bailing out of their promises. She clicked her tongue in annoyance as she locked her car and made her way to professor Boa's office.

Her brows knitted thinking what does the professor wanted from her. He didn't usually call for her, and not only that. He asked Luke to do it -- which was from another team. He could ask any of her labmates or send her a message directly but he asked Luke.

She felt there was something off with it. But she brushed the thought when she arrived at the professor's office.

She found a familiar student assistant in his office when she entered.

"Good morning, professor Boa called for me," she gave the student assistant a friendly smile, for she recognized that she is a year lower than her. However, the student assistant gave her a slow look over, then snickered before telling her to wait, for professor Boa was still in a meeting.

She sat down in the small waiting area wondering why the student assistant was acting like that towards her. A small headache starts to manifest from her temple. She glanced at her watch, wondering how long will she wait for she's feeling really uncomfortable that the student assistant would throw her a glance then snort, clearly suppressing laughter.

She pulled her phone and sent a message to Luke asking him if he heard any new gossip about her around campus. She stared at her phone for ten minutes but didn't get a reply. He must still be asleep.

She took a deep breath and looked around the small receiving area in search of something to read. She needed something to take her mind off the annoying student assistant in the room.

She was about to open a copy of Readers Digest when professor Boa entered the room.

"Professor…" she was never been so happy to see the old professor. She couldn't help herself giving him a cheerful smile.

Her brows creased when the professor didn't return her smile instead he asked his student assistant to have an early lunch break.

"Follow me in my office, Miss Zimmerman," he said in a serious voice.

She knew something was up. From the snickering student assistant, and the overly serious professor Boa. Without a word, she followed the old professor to his office.

"Close the door."

Jess did what she was told while her brain was running at full speed on what could it be that he wanted to talk about.

"I'm not going to make this any more difficult than it already is," he motioned her to take the seat in front of his table.

"A malicious rumor between you and Mr. Tiefenbacher has been circulated around the campus."